Vol 1, (2021)
Articles

Like, Comment and Share: A Study on the Impact of the Facebook Campaign of the Kerala Police During the COVID 19 Lockdown

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  • Anju Michael,
  • Abdul Rasheed A. P. K.
Anju Michael
Assistant Professors, Department of Media Studies, Kristu Jayanti College (Autonomous), Bengaluru
DOI: https://doi.org/10.59176/kjhss.v1i0.1306

Published 2020-11-25

Keywords

  • COVID 19, Social Media Campaign, Audience Perception, Kerala Police.

How to Cite

Michael, A. ., & A. P. K., A. R. . (2020). Like, Comment and Share: A Study on the Impact of the Facebook Campaign of the Kerala Police During the COVID 19 Lockdown. Kristu Jayanti Journal of Humanities and Social Sciences (KJHSS), 1, 46–54. https://doi.org/10.59176/kjhss.v1i0.1306
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Abstract

The outbreak of COVID 19 as a global pandemic has created challenges in every sector. From adapting to new habits and lifestyles, individuals, organisations, and the government have had to take measures to cope with the unprecedented situation. The strategies adopted by Kerala, a southern state in India, received international coverage and appreciation for their preventive measures against COVID 19. Along with the medical practitioners, the Kerala Government involved law enforcers in the COVID prevention mission. The Kerala Police Department was in the front line to sensitise and educate the community about lockdown measures and safety protocols and played a pivotal role to curb the spread of the disease. The state police department used widespread campaigns to reach out to netizens about the preventive measures adopted by the government. This paper discusses how the Kerala State Police Department used its social media platform, specifically their Facebook page, to assist the COVID prevention campaign of the government. The study used quantitative content analysis of the official Facebook page of the Kerala State Police Department to gain knowledge about their communication strategy. An audience survey was conducted to measure the impact of social media communication and the perception of the police department. Thus, the paper tries to find if an active social media campaign is a powerful tool in changing the perception of the audience during a crisis.

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